


a gorilla, a sorcerer, and a scientist walk into a bar

by SilentWaves



Category: Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Asexual Senkuu Ishigami, Friendship, Gen, I headcanon him as a romantic ace but that's just mentioned for maybe 2 seconds, Kohaku is such a major bro, They're just vibing and having a good time yall, also she's basically Chrome's older sister nobody can convince me otherwise, chrome is a golden retriever and that's just a fact
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24572404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentWaves/pseuds/SilentWaves
Summary: That’s it, that’s the joke. Nobody expected Kohaku, Chrome, and Senku to become best friends, with Kohaku’s general arrogance, Senku’s gradual decline into mad science, and Chrome’s unrelenting enthusiasm to the point to being annoying. But despite their flaws, they learn to love each other, becoming the brothers and sister that they were missing their whole lives. And really, that’s all they need.Also, they’re all underage, but it’s alright, because they’re not planning on drinking any of their precious revival alcohol.
Relationships: Chrome & Ishigami Senkuu, Chrome & Kohaku (Dr. STONE), Ishigami Senkuu & Kohaku
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	a gorilla, a sorcerer, and a scientist walk into a bar

**Author's Note:**

> Have I... Have I ever mentioned how much I love writing friendship dialogue??? Because I love writing friendship dialogue. Anyways, we see a lot of Senku&Yuzuriha&Taiju content but may I present to you: Senku&Kohaku&Chrome content.

“So… About Ruri…” Kohaku walks into Senku’s lab, a bit too quietly for Senku’s blood pressure.

“What about her?” Senku asks after recovering from a near-heart attack. “We’re divorced now, so don’t worry about anything.”

“No no, it’s not _you_ I’m worried about.” Kohaku says. “What did Gen say you were? Asexual?”

“Yeah. I’m not interested in sex, but I don’t mind dating.” Senku explains, taking out the minerals that he would be using for his next experiment. He was wondering recently whether the rates of naturally-appearing minerals could have changed over the past few thousand years after all the volcanic and seismic activity.

“Right.” Kohaku nods, though it’s mostly lost on Senku as he’s already busy making notes in his makeshift journal. Kohaku leans over his desk, though careful not to disturb anything on it (Senku didn’t get mad a lot, but Kohaku couldn’t say it was a pleasant experience when he did). “Thank goodness you re-invented this ‘paper’ thing, yeah?”

“I suppose. It’s still nowhere near as smooth as I would like, though.” Senku runs a finger over the rough surface, on a blank spot where he hadn’t written yet. “Anyways, what about Ruri? Or did you just want an excuse to see me for those ribs again?”

“Ah, no. They’ve fully recovered.” Kohaku hits her chest once as proof. Sure, she had some pain after being crushed under a tree, and Senku had told her to not lift anything too heavy afterwards, but she’s all better now. “But yeah, so.” She shuffles her feet a bit, realizing that she probably should have thought about what to say before going to Senku’s hut. “Chrome. How’s he doing?”

“What does he have to do with Ruri?”

“Ah, I told you about his little crush on her, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, I was wondering if he’s been pouty lately.”

“Pouty?” Senku hadn’t noticed anything much, though Chrome had started challenging Senku to arithmetic competitions 7 times a day instead of the usual 5. He didn’t think anything much of it though, since it was the best way for Chrome to learn to do mental math. “Maybe? I can’t really tell. I’ve been a bit too busy saving humanity to do much people-watching.” He sharpens his pencil after scribbling down some observations. “You could always ask Gen.”

“Well here’s the _thing_ , Senku.” Kohaku sighs, exasperated. “Even a menta-whatever and psycho-something expert like Gen might not know how Chrome’s doing, since even Chrome himself isn’t entirely aware of his feelings.”

“No, Gen definitely knows.”

Kohaku grits her teeth. “Alright, I’ll cut the crap.” She puts her hand on Senku’s arm, and takes the pencil out of his grip (though making sure she doesn’t disturb anything on the page in the process). “You’re our new village leader now, like it or not. And you just also happen to be one of the _least_ social people I know. And that’s fine, whatever, I know Kinro’s like that too, but you still have to consider that you’re _chief_ now. As the strongest person and defender in the village, I need to know that you’re not a threat.”

“What, with your strength? I don’t think I’d ever pose a threat without science on my side.” Senku understood what Kohaku was saying. He didn’t _agree_ with it, but he understood it. “And besides, my contribution to your world is to re-integrate mine into it. The science that you fear so much just saved your sister’s life.”

“I know. And that’s why you’re still alive right now. And trust me, had your attitude been anything like that lion guy’s, then you’d already be long-dead.”

“Yup. I’m very glad you haven’t killed me yet. And you’re grateful for it too, because I’m bringing a _scientific revolution_ right to your door. And I just happen to need manpower in order to do it, since I lost my dear friend and stamina-cheat.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Kohaku’s not sure how the conversation went from her chewing him out about how his isolated personality could be read as danger to him professing the loss of a friend, but she was sorry nevertheless. She’s seen enough dear ones go from the cold or hunger that she felt nothing but compassion for him.

“What? Oh, no, he’s not dead. But I don’t know if we’ll both live to see each other again, since he’s all the way in Tsukasa’s empire.” Senku turns to face Kohaku for the first time, though he doesn’t meet her eyes. “I’ll admit. It’s been… lonely. So yeah, ever so sorry for not parading around to get to know everyone better when I’m the only one who can help us win this war.” His voice had a bitter tone to it, and Kohaku decided she should take a different approach.

“Alright, sorry. That’s my bad. You’re right,” there’s pause, and it’s only a second, but it feels like and _eternity_ for how long it lasted. She sighs, because Senku was obviously waiting for her to continue. His eyes were intense on a regular day, but when they’re seeming to stare right into her soul, she gets the overwhelming urge to either run away or punch something. She sighs, “You’re the only person, with the exception of Gen’s cool magician deal, who can make sure that Tsukasa doesn’t destroy us. We don’t know shit without you guiding us with your futuristic science. And for that… we’re very grateful.”

Senku continues looking at her expectantly, waiting for the hatchet to fall. 

“But,” Kohaku says hesitantly. _And there it is_ , Senku thinks. Kohaku continues, “We do still want to know more about you. You’re still a stranger, even if you’re a helpful one, and I think… I think we’d all do much better work if we were more familiar with you.” She relaxes, as much as she can while still on guard. “Obviously, we know you’re not going to hurt us, and obviously, we know that your work is more important than any socializing, but still…” And Kohaku is out of words. After a life of being friends with Chrome, she really isn’t used to carrying the conversation. 

“Yeah.” Senku says simply after a beat of silence. “Alright, I don’t really have anything to work on right now. The Sulfa drug was successfully completed already, and there’s not really a rush for anything else right now… I guess… I can make time to get to know everybody.”

“Alright! Um.” Kohaku racks her brain to think of something that Chrome would usually say whenever one of the children learned to speak. “So, what’s your favourite game?” _Shit, that wasn’t a very good question to ask. Does he even play games in the first place?_ Kohaku mentally panics for a bit, but there was no taking back the question now.

Senku lets out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s totally a shitty, predictable answer, but Minecraft was my life. If I didn’t have a project going on, I was working on a nice-ass redstone base.”

“…What?” Kohaku understood the general gist of the answer, but she’s never even _heard_ of this ‘redstone’ thing (not that she remembers most of the fun names that Chrome made up for his discovered minerals, but still). 

“Uh, you know what, I think it might confuse you too much if I explained computers to you.” Senku quickly raises his hands as a pathetic excuse for a shield when Kohaku aims her glare at him. “We’re eventually going to make a computer anyways, in case we ever want to go to space. I’ll tell you about it then.” He lets out a sigh of relief when Kohaku relaxes and sits down on the ground, as if she’s inviting him to a nice chat over tea. Senku has no choice but to accept. “What about you?” He asks awkwardly. “Do you have time for any games now that you don’t have to run to the springs every day?”

Kohaku brightens, because _finally_ , there’s an easy-to-answer question. “I’ve started spending time with Suika and the other kids! They’re really cute, you know? And they love to chase each other for fun.”

“Like tag?”

“What’s tag?” 

“It’s like, one person is ‘it’, and the ‘it’ person has to chase after the others until they manage to touch them. Then the person they touched is the new ‘it’.” Senku realizes that there’s not a certain source for when tag originated. He wouldn’t be surprised if these children already made up a version very much like it already, but under a different name.

“Oh! So like Hunt!” Kohaku says. “Well, I don’t think the kids play it, but I think Kinro and Ginro do it as a part of guard training.”

Senku lets out a laugh at that. Kinro, the ever-so-serious type, and Ginro, despite his cowardice, is still strong enough to beat up Senku really good if he really wanted. “Really? ‘Guard training’?” He couldn’t help it, because he stopped playing with the other kids at 5 years old, and that’s the only image that he has of the activity.

“No, it’s true! Only, we do it with sticks covered in smashed fruits and flowers, and whenever someone gets a stick to a vital part, they have to do the others’ chores for a week!”

“So it’s not guard training,” Senku smiles, slow and knowing, “It’s your way of getting Kinro to do your chores when you don’t feel like it, because he would never back down from a challenge.”

“Well,” Kohaku huffs through a small smile. “Maybe.”

“And besides, I thought you weren’t a guard?”

“Umm, not _officially_ , since my dad didn’t allow it, but I’m definitely the strongest person here.” Kohaku states proudly.

“So? Magma’s pretty strong too, and he would never be in charge of anyone’s safety except his own.”

“Hey, you’re a total liar!” Kohaku smiles, one that reaches her eyes this time. “You said that you—” she drops her voice to a horrible impression of Senku’s “—’didn’t have time for people-watching’, did you not?”

“Well,” Senku repeats Kohaku’s earlier huff. “Perhaps.” He quickly recovers, “But it doesn’t take an idiot to realize the general personalities of everyone here. I know _enough_ , even from a small glance.”

“Like?”

“Well, you’re the token tough guy with a love for your sibling stronger than your love for yourself.” Senku starts.

“Ok, not entirely true, but I see where you got the impression.” Kohaku says, in a tone that urges Senku to continue going.

“Ruri, I don’t know much about, only except maybe that she just seems like an older version of you. I’ll bet Gen could have had a full profile of her based on a first impression, but uhh, that’s not my area.”

“Right. Sure, we can talk to Ruri more if you ever want to know her better.”

“Maybe,” Senku says, though there’s that underlying excitement in his voice. He never hated the process of getting to know someone, and even if they don’t know anything about Boyle, Hess, or Einstein, they still have their own areas of expertise that Senku wouldn’t mind learning more about.

“She’s doing a lot better now, so I’d love to spend some time with her on our own first, but I’m sure we could arrange a fun outing for all of us someday.” Kohaku pauses to think for a second. “Ah, we’d have to invite Chrome too though.”

“Yeah, speaking of. Chrome is. A golden retriever. I will not be elaborating.” Senku says, perfectly aware that Kohaku wouldn’t know what the fuck a golden retriever was.

“What the fuck is that, please explain.” Kohaku says. “I’ve known Chrome since we were babies, so if a golden retriever is some weird energetic mushroom, then you know what? You’re definitely correct.”

Senku laughs, “Alright, fine. It’s like, a type of dog that’s really… well, you know what, sure. Chrome is like a weird energetic mushroom, if that existed. That’s more or less what a golden retriever is.”

Kohaku’s eyes light up in response. “We’re going to get Chrome tomorrow — that is, if you’re not busy — ” She pauses, waiting for Senku to interrupt if he was. When there’s no answer, Kohaku continues. “We’re going to get Chrome and we’re going to let him know once and for all that you’re not interested in Ruri.”

“I guess the challenge will be to do so without him ever finding out his own feelings about her, huh?” Senku grins. “How are your acting skills?”

“Horrible. You?”

“Non-existent.” Senku pauses to think for a second. "I mean, I guess I'd be fine if my life was on the line, y'know, adrenaline and all that, but I don't think Chrome's that dangerous."

They laugh, and they continue talking about the other villagers, with Senku more eager to get to know them by the minute (in small quantities though, at staggered times — he really couldn’t handle using up too much socializing energy without buffer time in between). They talk late into the night, and Senku finds that talking to Kohaku is about as easy as talking to Taiju or Yuzuriha. They fall asleep hours later, curled up on the ground where they’re sure to regret in the morning when their necks don’t turn right, as Kohaku mutters something about _that one time Magma and Ruby changed clothes, and Magma looked so good in her clothes that…_

And they’re quiet, with twin smiles on their faces, with identical soft, relaxed expressions. Sure, Senku didn’t have his best friends with him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make more while he’s away.

* * *

“Hello, Kohaku. How is your day today?” Senky says, in such a monotone voice that it would be a wonder if Chrome didn’t suddenly burst into laughter.

“I am doing well. How about you?” Kohaku responds with equal stiffness. They’re not doing too well, but at least they’ve got Chrome’s attention while he’s picking his sunflower seeds.

“I’m well, thank you,” and really, Senku and Kohaku can feel how uncomfortable this ‘performance’ is, but they never learned how to improv. “Did you hear about that wedding recently?”

“Yes. You were the groom.”

“Yes, I was.”

This continued back and forth for a bit, not relenting in the slightest from how awkward it was. They had expected Chrome to have interjected or ran away by now. 

“So, you _really_ don’t care about my sister?” Kohaku says, in a horrible impression that reminds Senku of those kids shows that speaks too slowly for anyone to take seriously, and always leaves muted space for the viewers to answer with an obvious answer.

“Not in that way, no! I cannot believe anyone would think that I was attracted to the Priestess Ruri!” He says in a way that reminds Kohaku of that one time Ginro tried (and failed) to impersonate Suika. 

“That’s good then! I guess anyone else who may or may not be interested in her would have a chance now that she is no longer married or being courted!!” Kohaku ends with a really forced plastered smile, and they make up some hasty excuse to get the hell out of there. 

“That was,” Kohaku says, laughing when when they’ve gotten a suitable distance away from the sunflower field. “the _worst_ thing I’ve ever done.”

Senku laughs with her. “I told you my acting skills were nonexistent! And besides, it’s not like you were any better.”

“You totally froze up! Chrome would be such an idiot if he actually believed us.”

“Nah, don’t even worry about it. I’m sure he would see the intention behind it if he didn’t believe our shitty acting.” Senku pauses to think for a bit as they arrive at his lab. “Well, at the very least, he’ll have to come back if he wants to learn more science.”

Kohaku shrugs, “Yeah, I guess. It’s not like Chrome’s the type of person to hold grudges anyways.” She’s silent for a second. “Yeah, I can hear him coming over right now.”

“Damn, we won’t even need a cellphone at this rate if you manage to level up your hearing enough.” Senku teases. He wants to iron out some blueprints for the cell phone project, and he’s also got a shopping list of minerals to search for when Chrome comes to his senses.

Kohaku lightly shoves Senku’s shoulder in retaliation. “My hearing isn’t that good, I’m just better than most, is all.”

“Yup. You know,” He points the pencil at her. “If you were from modern society, you definitely would have been one of the first people that Tsukasa depetrifies.”

“That’s a compliment?”

“Yeah. He only wants a civilization of the very best youth, or something like that?” Senku turns back to his blueprints. “I don’t know the specifics of that, I just know that science doesn’t discriminate based on age or ability or anything.”

“Hey, Senku?” A new voice — Chrome — enters the lab. 

“What is it?” Senku asks. Kohaku is staring at the wall with a mild intensity at the anticipation of what Chrome would say. “Something wrong with our supplies?”

“Ah, no, nothing like that,” Chrome shuffles his feet a bit. He looks down. “Is-Is there anything you’re working on right now that I can help with?”

Kohaku has the brief realization that she totally forgot how much of an idiot Chrome was. It didn’t matter whether their pathetic act worked or not, because Chrome would have the same reaction nevertheless.

Senku seemed less fazed about Chrome’s casual dismissal of the whole wedding thing. Kohaku figures that he just didn’t care much. “Yeah, I’ve got three projects going on right now. Which one do you want to learn about?” Senku sets them out on the lab bench.

Chrome leans down, and studies them for a second. “Ooh, what are you doing to the cotton candy machine?”

“Humans are too inefficient. We can make smooth gold filament now, but I want to find a way to automatically braid it too.” Senku looks at his blueprints. “But everything I’ve come up with is too complicated for our tech.”

“Hold on, didn’t the children say they’d take care of it?” Kohaku asks. “Their hands are so small, they’re doing a fine job of braiding all the gold.”

“Yeah, but they could be doing food runs while a machine does all of that work.” Senku makes a few marks on the page, mutters a bit, frowns, and then scratches them out. “You guys have toasted sunflower seeds here, right?”

“Yeah, want some?” Chrome asks.

“Not now.” Senku huffs indignantly. “Didn’t I tell you the number 1 rule science is to never eat in the lab?”

“Well, no, you said that rule number 1 was to always experiment.” Chrome’s eyebrows furrow in thought. “Though, you’ve also said that tule number 1 was to have a steady strong motivation.” He looks up at Senku with bright eyes, “You should make up your mind about that!” He says while giving him a thumbs up.

Senku sighs, “Well, it’s very important, or else I’d risk losing a good brain.”

“You think I’ve got a good brain?” Chrome gasps, eyes alight with joy.

“You think he’s got a good brain?” Kohaku asks with one eyebrow raised, thinking of those times when Senku would very clearly talk down to them all.

“Well, yeah. Maybe not for memorization, but at least for creativity,” Senku answers. “I’m not so arrogant to forget that I can’t be good in all areas of science, you know.”

Kohaku opens her mouth to agree, but then Chrome cuts in with his blisteringly-hot enthusiasm. 

“So when do we get to building it??” Chrome says in a rush. “But also! What do we tell the children? They might be a bit upset at helping with any new projects whose only purpose is to drive them outta work.”

“They’re not being driven out of work.” Senku says, with a deadpan expression. “This isn’t work, because they’re not getting paid.”

“Ooh! Gen told me about this!” Chrome says. “He said something about child labour before!”

“No, that’s not what this is, they’re volunteering. That’s different.” Senku counters. “Besides, I don’t think you guys have a legal system.”

“A what system?” Kohaku asks. 

“A le—Uh, you know what, nevermind.” Senku squints into the distance for a second, as though it would help at all. “When we revive more of humanity, I’ll make sure to get someone who’s trained as a lawyer, and maybe a judge. Uh, wait, I’d need at least two lawyers, wouldn’t I?” He continues muttering for a bit, with Chrome intently listening and Kohaku already zoning out. Senku looks back at them, “Well, basically, you’ll know when they’re revived.”

“Cool,” Kohaku was happy with this explanation.

Chrome wasn’t. “But Senku—” He drags out the last syllable. “Don’t you think I need to know everything there is to know about science?”

“Legal’s not science. It’s the humanities.” Senku points out.

“Well, I’m a human,” Chrome scoffs. “I think, as a human, I deserve to understand humanities.”

Senku snorts, “Then you should ask Gen. I never bothered learning any humanities.”

“Mmhm, makes sense,” Kohaku nods. “What did Gen call you the other day, a ‘Mad Scientist’? That doesn’t sound like someone humane.”

“Oh shut up,” he says without malice. “I still consider peoples’ feelings.”

“Then you should let the children braid the gold!” Kohaku says. “Think about it, there’s really no point in putting in all that work into making a new thing when we already have people who can do the thing by hand.”

Senku thinks for a moment. He taps the page a few times. Finally, he sighs, “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’m down to two projects now. Chrome, what do you want?”

“I wanna learn something new!”

Senku groans and slumps down on the table, but Kohaku thinks it’s more for show than anything, because he has a very recognizable glint in his eye, “How about we make some chalk?” He asks. “It’s pretty simple, really.”

“Chalk? The dog?” Kohaku grimaces. “I don’t think you should create any living things.”

“No, chalk, the thing the dog was named after. You can find something similar in nature, but it’s just not as satisfying unless you make it yourself!” Senku explains, getting more excited with every word. “A chalkboard is super handy for brainstorming, and also for diagram-drawing, since erasing it is a lot more controlled and convenient! And then you can write your calculations in the pavemen—— Oh.”

“Oh?” Chrome also looks excited at the prospect of this idea.

“So I’m realizing that it’s really not worth making the chalk. We really don’t need cement at this stage.” Senku scratches his head. “Hmm, we could always make some more hydrochloric acid. It’s pretty common in general, so it wouldn’t hurt to have a lot of it.”

“Sure!” Chrome says. He would do anything if it meant he could see more science done. “Where do we start?”

“There’s a lot of ways that we could…” And as Senku continues explaining, Kohaku quickly pats their backs and sprints out of the lab. If there was anything in there that required brute force, she definitely _did not_ feel like doing it.

That being said, she’s definitely planning on coming back in the evening to see whatever crazy, weird thing they’ve created can do.

* * *

It’s been a week since they’ve started work on the Perseus, and Senku is stressed.

“What kind of crazy civilization could we meet? Ugh, I wanna meet this why-man so badly… I wonder what kind of insane sci-fi shit he’s hiding across the sea…” As Senku continues his slightly-crazed mumblings, Kohaku mentally corrects herself because _no_ , Senku was not stressed. He was more likely going to burst from the anticipation.

“Oy, Senku. Some of us are trying to lug wood out here,” Kohaku teases lightly. “Quit your mumblin’ and help us with something.”

“I’m supervising,” Senku says, with all the pride of someone sitting on a smooth rock, sipping a nice cool drink that Francois just delivered. “It’s very important.”

“Yeah, Senku’s supervising!” Chrome chirps in, from the warm spot next to him.

“And what are you doing then?” Kohaku deadpans.

“I’m learning!” Chrome says proudly. Seeing Kohaku’s glare, he amends his statement a bit. “Well, also, I’m no good for manual labour. At least this way we can split the directing three ways instead of just two.”

“Nah.” Kohaku gestures to somewhere over her shoulder. “Do you see Ryusui over there? He’s becoming some kind of micromanagist.”

“I don’t think that’s a word,” Senku says, slurping obnoxiously loudly at his drink, with a smile that tells Kohaku that it’s meant to annoy her. “Who did you hear it from?”

“Nikki, why?” Kohaku shifts the small tree from one arm to the other. “Also, I gotta drop this off to the carving station. I’ll be back.”

Senku lets out a noise that’s somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “You know, Chrome. She’s got a point. I don’t think I’ve been teaching you anything here — I’ve mostly just been thinking about Treasure Island.”

“Nope!” Chrome points his thumb at his chest. “I learn really really well from watching you do your blueprints! And besides, you already told me everything about buoyancy to fill in the gaps!”

“Cool. Well, to be totally honest, I think we should let Ryusui handle all the details, since it’s really _his_ ship, and he’s the captain and all.” Senku leans back. “I’m just here to make sure he’s still doing all the important engineering stuff, not that he’d really miss it anyways.”

“So, you were saying how there were boats everywhere? Back in your world?” Chrome leans in. 

“Yeah,” Senku looks wistfully at the clouds. “And planes. And cars. And trains.” He sighs. “Once we build this boat, we’re going to be well on our way back to the wonders of modern-day transport.”

“Woah,” Chrome looks at the same spot in the sky as Senku is, as though he’d be able to see something there. He doesn’t. “Do you know how to make it all?”

“Yeah, though I have to admit I’m a lot more comfortable with Ryusui here too. I may know all about science, but that guy’s been around boats since he was born.” Senku glances at the boat again. “Oh _shit_ , Ginro what are you doing? The keel can’t be crooked, here, I’ll get Taiju to come help you position it right…”

He wanders off as Kohaku returns. 

“Oh, so he actually does do work, huh?” Kohaku’s carrying another small tree, and Chrome stares at her arms a bit to see if they were shaking at all. They weren’t. “I guess that frees up Ryusui to check on the sails.”

“Yeah, I still gotta get them to explain all the parts of the boat to me, but I’m not going to bother them at this stage,” Chrome looks at Senku dragging Taiju over from his work in the fields.

“Whaaat, Chrome, not going crazy for science?” Kohaku smiles, “That’s a first.”

Chrome lightly shoves her shoulder in retaliation. She doesn’t budge. “It’s not that. But they told me that the most fundamental part of the ship is its foundation. Otherwise, whatever we build off of it won’t hold. That’s a lot more important than me learning about the angles that we should apply the plywood at.”

“Huh. Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re going to have to explain it to all of us anyways, since we’re the ones building it.” Kohaku glances at the blueprints that Senku left on the rock for Chrome to study while he was correcting the error at the boat. “That looks so crazy complicated, even more than our own village. I’m actually excited to see it come together.”

Chrome bursts into laughter. Kohaku frowns at him. “What?” She asks indignantly.

“Careful now, Kohaku, you’re starting to sound more like Senku every day!” Chrome smiles, “Soon, we’re going to have two mad scientists on our hands.” He chuckles.

“Ha! No way, I’d never be as much of a nerd as he is,” Kohaku gives a warm smile in Senku’s direction. “Besides, it’s not like we really need another science genius, and you’re going to fill that role up anyways.”

“Well, he is somewhere around 3000 years older than me, so… yeah. He’s pretty old. I’m just saying,” He shrugs, “I’m gonna have to take over for the old man soon.”

Kohaku laughs, “He’s definitely not that old. You’ve got time before you become a certified scientist.”

“Hey! I’m already a certified scientist! Have you not seen what I’ve helped to create?” Chrome protests.

Kohaku grins, and ruffles his hair with her free hand, “Yup. You’re our resident weird mushroom scientist.”

Senku sighs as he approaches them, “Ugh, building a ship is actually kind of stressful. Do you think we could find some free people to make emergency escape boats?” He plops down on the rock, tips the wooden cup over his mouth, and frowns at it when he realizes that it’s empty. He glares at Chrome, who in return gives him an innocent smile.

“I didn’t know you were so unconfident about your own invention, Senku!” Kohaku heaves an exaggerated sigh. “I guess your science isn’t quite as reliable as you’ve marketed.”

“Yo, did you brain start getting replaced by muscle?” Senku jokes, adding a light slap to Kohaku’s arm. “My science is just fine, thank you very much. But contingency measures never hurt anybody.” He smirks. “They do the opposite, in fact.”

Kohaku _hmph_ ’s good-naturedly, and makes a swatting motion towards them as she goes to drop off her tree.

Chrome sighs, looking at the ship. “So, ‘get excited’, and all that, right?” His voice is practically overflowing with the exact sentiment. “I wonder what this’ll look like once we’re ready to set sail?”

“Probably, and hopefully, like it does on the blueprint.” Senku sighs, glancing over at the hardworking villagers that have taken really well to the new world of science recently. “I trust them though. Ryusui, to pull this project together. The power team, to make sure we can get this done on time. You, to learn and help lead. Kohaku, to call us out on our bullshit. You know, the works.”

“Aw, Senku, so you _do_ have a heart!” Chrome teases after a beat of silence. “I was worried there for a second, you know.”

Senku laughs. “I _need_ a heart, Chrome. Don’t you know anything about human anatomy?”

“Well, _obviously_. You have your heart, and you have your brain, and there’s a bunch of blood, and some other stuff inside!” Chrome says with full confidence.

Senku smiles, and pats Chrome on the shoulder, “When we’ve got all the foundations done, maybe I’ll tell you more about modern medical science.”

“Wait, damn, there’s stuff that you haven’t told me yet about medical science?? PLEASE ELABORATE!!!” He’s so close to Senku’s face that he’s pretty sure some spit got onto his skin, but Senku smiles in response.

“Ok, first off, gross, please keep your ramen-breath a decent amount of distance from me.” Senku laughs as Chrome sputters in offence. “Second, you’ll learn about human innards when we have time to learn about human innards.”

“But Senku——” He gives Senku that puppy-dog-eyed look that would work a lot better if he used it less frequently. 

Senku holds up his hand to stop him. “Wow, hey, is that? Woah, looks over there, Kohaku’s coming back over!” It was true, Kohaku just turned around, but probably only because she heard Senku calling for her.

Chrome pouts as Kohaku walks over. She sits down on the ground in front of them. “Did you guys need something? Ryusui’s going to come over soon to teach us the proper wood-sanding methods.”

Senku shrugs. “Eh, not much, just wanted to, uh, check on how things were going.” He pauses to think for a second. “Though, I guess we _could_ make some more measuring tools.” He nudges Chrome. “Do you wanna supervise the boat or make the tools?”

“I’ll go make the tools!” Chrome recovers, and excitedly sprints over to the children, who were enthusiastically mixing the paint for the rulers that Senku got Kaseki to make the other day.

“Huh. He really doesn’t care what job he’s given, huh?” Kohaku smiles, in that endeared-but-exasperated way that can only come from spending too much time with someone.

Senku lets out a small chuckle. “Guess not. Well, anyways, I shouldn’t keep you too long, so go back to learning about wood-carving?” He studies the paper for a second. “Er, actually, I guess I should probably come too, huh?”

“Yeah!” Kohaku drags Senku to his feet. “We’re all learning how to do the thing right now, so it’s not like anyone’s actually working on the boat right now.” She smiles as Senku neatly folds up his paper and tucks it away in one of his leather pouches. “And we don’t need any dead weight.” She teases.

“I’m not _dead weight_!” Senku says, with mock-offence. “But! I’m not above doing manual work, so I _guess_ I can come help with preparing the wood.” He feigns exasperation, and Kohaku laughs.

“Yup, you can keep mumbling all you want, but that’s not going to get the boat built!”

Senku smiles, and they look at the boat again. One week in, and probably lots more to go, but it’s coming along nicely, and Senku believes whole-heartedly that his friends and the villagers are going to make it into something amazing.

* * *

Senku is snoring away on the bar table after a tiring day. Also, he hadn't completely recovered from his lacquer reaction.

“Well, we should just let him sleep,” Kohaku says after looking at Senku’s expression. “He’ll have a wood indent on his face when he wakes up, but that just means we’ll have a good use for Minami’s camera.”

Chrome laughs, and sits down next to her, “It’s so crazy, isn’t it? We’re in the middle of a freakin’ _huge_ body of water, and we can be this relaxed!”

“I wouldn’t say you’re 'relaxed', Chrome.” Kohaku says. “You’re practically bouncing right off your seat.”

“Well! That’s because of the engineering marvel that is ship travel! With this many people! At _night_!!!” Chrome shouts, though with everyone else celebrating after a hard day of work, he’s not exactly bothering them.

“Sure sure, you guys keep nerding out over your science,” Kohaku stifles a laugh against her drink. “I’ll just make sure none of you guys die on me.”

“What’s a ‘nerd’?” Chrome asks. 

“Minami taught me a whole bunch of terms from the modern era, and you,” She pokes Chrome’s forehead, “are a nerd. That’s good enough of a definition.”

“Aw, I get it. A cool scientist, right?” He smiles widely, eyes practically sparkling.

“…Sure, I mean, if that’s how you wanna think about it.” She shrugs. “We’re apparently the pioneers of this new age, so you may as well do whatever you want to the language.” She smiles. “But not really.”

Chrome hums, and they sit in comfortable silence for a bit, occasionally broken up by Senku’s soft snoring. He sits upright, “Hey Kohaku, lemme try your drink!”

“This? It’s strong, you sure you want any?” Kohaku holds her glass an arm length away from Chrome. “We haven’t gotten a doctor yet, for some reason. We don’t need you dying here, what with all the flies you’ll attract.”

Chrome laughs, and reaches for the glass again. Kohaku lets him take it, and Chrome holds it up to his mouth. “I’ll be fine! And besides, I think Senku brought enough of that corpse-deteriorating acid that I wouldn’t be able to attract flies even if I wanted!”

Kohaku laughs, “Gross. If you die here, I’m gonna kill you myself.”

“That’s physically impossible!” Chrome says. "And I'll be just fine!" 

“Famous last words,” Kohaku shrugs. 

Chrome gulps down a sip of Kohaku’s drink, and feels totally fine. “Hey, what’s your deal?” He asks jokingly. “There isn’t a single drop of alcohol in this!”

“There isn’t a single drop of alcohol _anywhere_ ,” Kohaku laughs. “What did you expect?”

“Huuuh, whatever,” Chrome pouts. “But do you think people actually drink that stuff? Wouldn’t it be like drinking Sulfurina straight from the bottle?”

“I think Senku mentioned once that it was really really poisonous, but maybe in small amounts…?” Kohaku thinks for a bit. “Ah, but we need the alcohol for the revival formula. No good wasting it on us when we’re already moving.”

“Yeah, I mean. Yeah.” Chrome looks at Senku’s sleeping slumped body. “Do you think he’ll catch a cold without a blanket?”

Kohaku shrugs, “He could probably make his own antibiotics again.” She puts the back of her hand on his arm to check if he’s cold. Room temperature.

“We’re in the middle of the ocean,” Chrome deadpans. “I don’t think we have all the stuff for that, especially since our inventory’s still being reorganized after Treasure Island.”

“Mmhm,” Kohaku sets down her empty glass and throws Senku over her shoulders the way a hiker would throw on a backpack.

“Woah, hey, careful. He’s still recovering.” Chrome gets up and follows Kohaku.

“Don’t worry, his weight is evenly distributed, and I’m supporting the head here.” She turns around so that Chrome could get a better angle. “See?”

“Ah, ok.” Chrome pokes one of Senku’s still slightly-puffy cheeks. “Feels like a fish.”

Kohaku laughs, “He’s such an idiot, marking the cards with something so dangerous for him.”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it? We’ve got a cool casino now!” Chrome looks at the bright lights illuminating the deck. “Aww, I should’ve bet on the game, then I would have enough money to play more.”

“What, did you lose it all already?” Kohaku smiles. To nobody’s surprise, Yoh, Taiju, and Chrome were the first ones out of the casino. At least Ginro has Matsukaze helping him.

Chrome lets out a long-suffering sigh, “I’m no good with cards. I’m not good at fibbing either.”

Kohaku laughs, “Well, neither am I! Or Senku, since his ploy to get us on this shorter voyage-path was almost _too_ obvious. Pretty much everyone figured it out.”

“Wha—hey!” Chrome sighs again, “I had no clue what was happening!”

“That’s because you were too busy being excited over the Poker game.” Kohaku says. “Alright. I think this is Senku’s bunk.”

Chrome wraps the blanket around Senku, and lays down on the bunk above him. “Well, I’m tired. I think I might go to sleep now.”

“Aw, baby needs his sleep,” Kohaku teases. She gets a good-natured slap to the shoulder in response, and loudly shushes him so their giggling doesn’t wake up Senku. 

“Haven’t you seen him?” Chrome whisper-shouts. “If he can sleep that soundly in the middle of a bar and casino, then he’ll be fine with our talking!”

Kohaku stifles a laugh, “Sure, I guess,” she whispers back. “Well, I’ve still got a score to settle with Gen. The beetle trick really got me back there.” She pouts, then her mouth sets into a determined grin. “I’ll beat him, just once, and then I’ll sleep.”

“Ha, alright.” Chrome says. “You’re not beating him, for sure. Just don’t fall asleep on lookout duty tomorrow.”

“You’re just jealous that you didn’t get to play in the Poker game,” Kohaku teases. “Maybe the next time we need to make a big decision, we’ll need someone who can collect some pretty rocks.”

“You would _love_ to be able to collect cool minerals!” Chrome retorts. “What’s your brute strength without something to channel it into?”

“Obviously,” Kohaku gestures vaguely to him and Senku. “That’s why all the thinking stuff is done by you guys. That’s waaay too much effort for me.” She lets out a small huff. “But make sure he doesn’t kick off his blanket again, yeah?”

Chrome smiles, and tucks himself in, “I know already. And don’t stay up too late trying to beat Gen at a game that he’s already won.”

“Ha! Just you wait, I’m gonna out-cheat him so good.” Kohaku crosses her arms, and heads out of the sleeping quarters. “Try and get some sleep, by the way. We don’t need your excited mumbling keeping the rest of us up.”

“Please,” Chrome scoffs. “You all sleep like statues. There’s no way I keep you all up. And besides, sometimes the science just compels me!”

Kohaku laughs softly, and leaves the room, waving a silent goodnight.

Chrome settles back into his bunk, Senku’s soft snoring interjected with occasional mutters about America and corn filling the empty room. He’s never had any friends besides Kohaku, being so detached from the rest of the village, opting to focus instead on rocks and minerals. He hadn’t realized that he was lonely until he’s surrounded by others who share his passions, and looking down at Senku, he can tell that Senku probably felt the same way.

Chrome’s never had siblings. His parents had passed before they could have any more children. Kohaku’s been the younger sister her whole life, and her relationship with her family is strained at best. Senku… well, he doesn’t talk much, but Chrome can guess that if he had a sibling, the Ishigami family would have probably taken over the world already.

But here, on the floating hunk of metal and wood, and back home, among the bottles of deadly acid and highly-dangerous-to-a-specific-person lacquer, Chrome feels like he has the older siblings that he’s wanted his whole life. 

And hell, Chrome was no mentalist, but he would be an idiot if he thought the other two felt any different.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually had so much fun with this fic! It was a really nice distraction from all the dumb schoolwork that I have right now, and I love these characters a lot.
> 
> That being said though, I just realized how behind I am in projects and school, so uhh, I'm probably gonna disappear from here for a while, at least until I've finished writing all my Dr STONE Week fics.
> 
> Anyways, please leave a comment if you have any feedback, and you can hit me up on [Tumblr](https://voicelesswaves.tumblr.com/) anytime!


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